A portion of the proceeds from this limited release will help give the gift of Christmas to local kids…
Holiday beers tend to fall into two camps: the ones that go maximalist with spice and cheer, and the quieter kinds that simply feel right for December. Tribute Christmas Ale, a new collaboration between four Luzerne County breweries, looks like it sits somewhere in the middle. Festive, yes, but not without intention.
The beer, brewed jointly by Breaker Brewing Company (Wilkes-Barre Township, PA), Back Mountain Brewery (Dallas, PA), Five Mountain Brewing Company (Shickshinny, PA), and Susquehanna Brewing Company (Pittston, PA), officially releases tomorrow. And while no tasting notes have been published, the breweries have offered enough detail and enough visual hints to sketch a reasonable picture of what drinkers can expect when they sit down with a pint or crack open a four-pack.
It’s not just about the beer…
Before anyone even gets to the first pour, one thing is clear: this project isn’t just about beer. One dollar from every four-pack sold will be donated directly to Valley Santa, the long-standing local charity that ensures children in Luzerne County wake up with a wrapped gift on Christmas morning. Since 1984, the organization has operated almost entirely on donations and volunteer labor, responding to letters from families, teachers, and social workers before purchasing individualized gifts and distributing them quietly. Tribute builds that mission directly into its release.
Okay, it’s also about the beer…
Tribute is framed as a spiced winter ale with fruit additions, positioned as a respectful nod to the former Anchor Christmas Ale. That alone offers some direction: a malt-forward base with toasted caramel depth; seasonal spices used with a light hand; and fruit notes that likely lean toward dried fruit or citrus peel, based on style norms. At 10.5% ABV, it’s intended as a slow sipper, full-bodied, gently warming, and built for cold-weather pacing.
The promo photos fill in more of the picture. The beer appears deep amber to ruby, clear enough to catch light even in overcast outdoor shots, with a tan head that seems to settle softly. There’s a polished, composed look to it, festive without being syrupy, wintry without drifting into heaviness.
A special collaboration…
The collaboration itself carries its own weight. Breaker Brewing hosted the brew day, fitting for a brewery that’s been part of NEPA’s modern craft landscape since 2009 and continues to weave the region’s coal-town identity into its branding. Back Mountain Brewery, founded in 2021, adds a younger, community-minded presence. Five Mountain Brewing Company brings the perspective of a small-town, family-run operation with a steady local following. Susquehanna Brewing Company, one of the area’s most established production breweries with six generations of brewing history, supplies both scale and experience.
Together, these four breweries map a broad slice of Luzerne County’s beer scene, and Tribute is a rare project that meaningfully connects those points.
Where can you get Tribute Christmas Ale?
Distribution looks straightforward: draft pours in each participating taproom and limited four-pack cans to go, with modest retail distribution suggested in earlier posts. And given the one-batch nature of the release, it’s the kind of beer you pick up when you see it, not one likely to linger.
Tribute Christmas Ale isn’t trying to rewrite the holiday-beer script. Instead, it appears to be a well-built winter ale that honors a familiar style, taps into regional pride, and channels some of NEPA’s beer energy toward a cause worth supporting. If early impressions are any indication, tomorrow’s release won’t just be about what’s in the can, it’ll be about what it stands for and the collective effort behind it.
